NCLEX Study Tips + My Overall Experience
- Shezel Spencer
- Sep 9, 2020
- 5 min read
Hey guys, welcome back to the blog! Today I'm excited to share some tips that I have for all of you who are about to write your NCLEX exam or will be writing it at some point in the future. As many of you know I have just recently written and passed the NCLEX here in Ontario, and couldn't be any more happier about being able to share what helped me with all of you! In the video below I touch on a lot as it pertains to the tool I used to study as well as how I coped and dealt with the anxiety that I experienced both before and after writing the exam. I wanted to share my WHOLE experience in the most transparent way possible so that it was truthful and relatable. So please fell free to watch the video on Youtube after or before reading the tips that I have for you guys on here, as it is very personable and motivating.
So I used what I think just about every one uses to study for the NCLEX, and that is UWORLD! This NCLEX study tool is by far the most popular! It is loaded with great resources and very detailed, in-depth explanations. It has different subscription plans that you can sign up for, I invested in the 90 day with 1 evaluation plan. It is basically a website with a question bank of over 2000 questions to study and learn from. There's categories ranging from adult health, obstetrics, pharmacology, fundamentals and so much more. You can basically construct quizzes, answer questions that look very similar to the ones that you will see on NCLEX, and then receive the answer to each question right away with a great explanation to accompany it. Whether or not you get the question right, you always receive a detailed explanation, some times with flashcards that can also be saved and reviewed for later on. I would advise that you guys take notes for as much as you can, and especially on the material that you are not so familiar with. I did take notes for the most part, and then towards the end I would just go back to the questions that I got wrong and tried to do them over by answering them again! I also reviewed the quizzes that I created earlier on during my first month of studying. I reviewed my saved flashcards and some of the questions that I marked for review (ones that I knew were more difficult for me to understand).
When I took my one time evaluation I didn't do so well. My result from UWORLD was Borderline, which means that they cannot tell you if they think that you have a high chance of failing or passing. I took this test two nights before writing my NCLEX so I felt a bit worried at that point, but I persisted. My advice would be to give yourself a good amount of time to do this evaluation on UWORLD, and then go back to look at the areas that you did poorly on and try to hone in on those types of questions.
I would also say to practice the select all that apply questions religiously as well if you know that was one of your weak points in nursing school. I know it was for me, and to be honest I got a good amount of these types of questions when I wrote the NCLEX. I mean, your bound to get them and UWORLD is the perfect website to practice them so why not master it!
I don't like to tell people that UWORLD is easier than the NCLEX, because I don't want you guys to think that your licensing exam is going to be a walk in the park after having completed all of the questions on UWORLD. Because it's not, at least it wasn't for me. But with proper preparation, self confidence, and a good nursing knowledge background you guys are more than capable of passing this exam!
UWORLD is pretty much all that I used to prepare for my NCLEX exam, I did watch a handful of videos on Youtube as it pertained to things that I really hadn't learned or talked about in awhile. However, for me UWORLD was enough and so I would highly recommend it to all of you!
OTHER HELPFUL TIPS:
- Talk about your study material with friends and family
- Stock up on healthy snacks while you study (nuts, seeds, avocado, berries, veggie sticks etc.)
- Drink a lot of WATER and stay hydrated
- Take your vitamins, especially fish oil and omega 3's
- Schedule your study time and take study breaks
- Use Youtube as a study resource when you need to change things up a bit
- Make hand written or typed notes and review content daily
- Wake up every day feeling motivated to give it your all and try your best to understand the material, not just memorize
- But also know that you cannot know every single thing, so try and know what is common nursing knowledge and master it
- BE realistic with yourself, BE confident in yourself, and BE happy about the journey that you are on
One last thing that I would definitely love to mention is that I think you guys should just wait for your official NCLEX results and not try your hand at the PearsonVue trick, which can be found all over the internet right now. Once you write your exam, you will know what I am talking about for sure. I tried it, and let's just say it left me feeling even more anxious than before. It didn't work for me and for others who I have spoken to about it. In my opinion, it is best to just wait it out and allow yourself the time to decompress after writing your exam.
So you guys, I wish you all the best as you begin or continue to study and prepare for writing the NCLEX! I know that you have what it takes to truly give it your all and pass. Try to remember how far you have come and know that all things are possible with GOD and hard work! I hope that this post and video helped you in some way or another, if there is anything else you guys would like to know, or questions that you must have answered, then feel free to reach out to me at any time! I will try my best to give you what ever information I can, always!
I hope to see you soon,
Shezel Spencer, RN, BN
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